Monday is Memorial day

From http://www.ambulancedriverfiles.com/

Monday is Memorial Day.

Most of us will spend the weekend grilling burgers and visiting with relatives, or lounging on a beach somewhere, or watching a baseball game in an opulent stadium, overpriced beer and hot dog in hand. And most of us will have forgotten the meaning of the day.

So when you partake in your Memorial Day festivities this weekend, try to remember a few things.

When the smoke from the grill blows into your eyes, try to imagine the terror of the young pilot as the smoke fills the cockpit of his F4 Wildcat, spiraling into the sea off Guadalcanal.

Read the rest here.

Have a tissue handy.

Hoping…

Looks like a fair amount of rain this weekend, but unless it’s awful, I’m going to spend a night or two in the sleeping bag. It’ll likely be a solo trip, because it’s supposed to rain and I have cabin fever much worse than anyone else.

I intend to get some photos of my water heating/camping shower setup, so stay tuned for a short post next week. Not quite as short as this one.

Thank you, Kroger

I’ve copied the letter I sent to Kroger below.

Dear Kroger Companies,

I have been a sporadic customer at my local Smith’s grocery store, primarily because it is located enough distance from my home to be inconvenient.  I would shop there occasionally, but not often, usually when driving out to Wal Mart.

I’ve made a decision to shop at Smiths from now on, because Kroger Companies treat their customers, pro gun and anti gun, like adults. I’ll spend as close to 100% of my grocery and alcohol budget with your stores from now on.

I’ve enclosed the receipts for my purchases from 22 April 2015 through 5 May 2014. You’ll see that they add up to over $400.00. You can count on me spending a similar amount each month.

Thank you for following local laws in your stores, and for recusing yourself from the debate. I very much appreciate being able to shop in the absence of politics.

Very truly yours,

Wyowanderer*

P.S.

I was challenged to do this by Tom at daddybearsden.com.

Thank you, Tom, for encouraging us to do this, and to spend money at Kroger’s companies.

* I didn’t really sign my name as Wyowanderer, but I don’t want hordes of fecund women coming to my house,either…

I’m a monster

Well, in the sense that I haven’t given my shotty enough attention. I bought in November of 1997, just a little over a month before NICS went into effect. Its purchase, and the subsequent purchase of an EBR* led to the dissolution of my second marriage, but that’s another story.

Anyway, this is a Wal Mart purchase- a Mossberg 500A shotty in 12 gauge, 20″ barrel, holds 7+1. It’s the perfect home defense gun. But on to the purpose of this post.

It was filthy, and has a couple spots of rust. Tiny spots, but rust nonetheless. So I pulled apart, watching a Youtube video for help. It was easy to get it cleaned up, and the rust spots aren’t much to worry about-they’ll get rubbed off soon enough, so long as I keep my promise to use the gun a little more. Reassembly took a little extra time because it took me a while to figure out the right relationship between the cartridge stop, cartridge interrupter, elevator, and trigger group. It’s really not too tough, but you’ve got to learn how to do it by trial and error.

Sorry, shotty. I promise to be good from now on.

*EBR= Evil Black Rifle- in this case an Arsenal SLR-95 AK-47 rifle.

Stop beating yourself up.

I tend to be hard on myself. When I fail or fall short, I’m my biggest critic and it’s helped me become a better man. But it’s not always in my best interest to continue raking myself over the coals for anything. 

Why am I writing about this?

One of the people I supervise called in sick today. Naturally, it is inconvenient , but it’s never the end of the world, so to speak.

During our conversation, I could tell that she was having a hard time telling me, as if she was afraid that I’d be irritated (and that never happens-if you’re sick, we let you take leave, and that’s the end of it, period) with her. After probing just a little, she told me that she was beating herself up because she wasn’t at work. Here’s the advice I gave her, that I received from an ex wife:

It’s a little like we have a big bag of sticks that we carry everywhere, and when we remember something in our past that disappoints us, we stop, set down the bag (which can be heavy or light, depending on lots of things), fish out the stick for the thing we’ve remembered, and use it to beat ourselves up with it. After we’re satisfied that it hurts enough, we put the stick in the bag, sling it back on our shoulder, and go on our (less) merry way. Lather, rinse, repeat.

My advice was for her to stop, empty the bag, arrange the sticks and bag in a nice pretty pile, and set it on fire (feel the warmth?).

That’s my advise to all of you as well. Stop beating yourselves up for things you can’t fix. It’s a waste of time.

Hope all of you have a great day.

Good times were had by all

I met my buddy at the range today so that his sons (3,5,and 6 years old) could do some shooting. We shot the Savage model 24 (.22 cal barrel only),  my S&W K-22, the Marlin model 60, and the AR. No accurate shooting was done, but the boys had a great time, and want to go again as soon as possible.

I can’t wait to take them again.